Bar Central, La Boqueria

We saw in the new year again at Blai’s parents’ place in Barcelona and I’ll eventually get to organising those photos; with my brother visiting the city too, I’ve been re-doing all the touristy sights (which are much more crowded than I remember) and hence taking more photos than usual. On his second day in the city, we visited La Boqueria, Barcelona’s most famous market, and as it happened to be lunchtime too, we lunched at Bar Central, one of the bars that looked quite good and where we could find space! This meal fulfilled a wish I’ve had which was to have a meal at one of the bars at La Boqueria.

Our server saw me whip out my camera and posed with a plate of someone else’s calamari and the planxa!

Don’t just depend on the menu that’s chalked up on the board; it’s much better to take a look at what looks good and what they recommend. We just went with what we felt like and what looked good on the counter and on other people’s plates. After staring at the big platter of Padrón peppers in front of us, we had to have some of our own. Our server very kindly gave us a few fried artichokes too for us to try. Unfortunately, the fried artichokes just weren’t as good as my mother-in-law’s. The pebrots de Padrón though were delicious. We didn’t find any hot ones that day.

I spied a big paella of arròs negre too and soon a plateful of it sat in front of us. The black inky rice was full of clams and pieces of squid and was extremely moreish. A little bit of all i oli on the side wouldn’t have hurt though.

We definitely had to have some of the exquisitely fresh seafood everyone else was eating. We opted for the selection of fish and shellfish, all cooked on the planxa. This is what arrived!

Everything was ridiculously fresh and delicious; all the seafood was drizzled with a garlic and parsley oil. The razor clams were superbly tender, the monkfish wonderfully meaty and the salmon just could be the best cooked salmon I’ve ever had. All the fish and shellfish are also available by themselves.

All highly recommended. With a couple of drinks, the total came to €40 for the both of us; not cheap but it’s certainly very reasonable for the quality of the seafood we ate. To get a seat, you’re just going to have to stand patiently behind the other patrons, waiting for their seats to free up!

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17 Responses to “Bar Central, La Boqueria”

I looooved La Boqueria when I was in Barcelona last year. Amazingly fresh seafood, so simple yet so good. The razor clams and monkfish were so good I wanted to cry. We had two 60 euro lunches there, definitely not cheap but that’s what holiday eating is all about. ;)

We love La Boqueria but didn’t have the best meal at Bar Cental when we were there and definitely not cheap. We much prefer Bar Pinotxo at the front of the market, you can’t miss the chick peas cooked with apple and black sausage.

That place looks wonderful Su-Lin. I love the Boqueria and shop there regularly but have never eaten there, partly because I’m never sure where I would choose, good to have this recommendation.
Hope you enjoyed your time in the beautiful city.

Happy new year. I loved the la boqueria Market with it’s great fruit and vegetable displays, even though I found a shop with a horse sign, very close by. I didn’t look any closer to check whether it was a horse butchers. The seafood looked good and I think reasonably priced considering the quality and the location as well.

Lorraine: Almost everyone I’ve encountered at that market are total hams! I guess they realise they might as well what with all the tourists! (But it’s good to know that it’s still a proper working market)

Marie: Oh yeah!

Tori: Those juices are wonderful, aren’t they? I always save some change for one or two of them. I have to say the coconut one is scary though; it’s pure white… like coconut milk!

Gastronomer: Knowing you though, I bet you dig up all the great spots in Birmingham, AL!

This is the most unprofessional, discriminatory and disrespectful place I’ve ever been!
I tried to eat there after reading a recommendation somewhere on the internet, but after waiting for more than 40 minutes to get a seat when I finally got a place to seat, the woman behind the counter told me to leave that seat because other people would sit there. When questioned, she yelled “This is my place so I can do what I want”. Other clients tried to intervene in my favor, questioning that they do not operate on “First come, first serve basis”, but all that followed was pure display of rudeness, ignorance and swearing. I’ve truly never been so mistreated as client anywhere in the world!